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Jan 10, 2009

Saturday January 10, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: None

Total block: 30

Total words: 68

I just noticed this morning that all of the Tom Pruce puzzles we've solved are themeless. Have never seen his name in other newspapers before. I sure hope he starts to look for other venues. What a mess with Tribune!

Mr. Williams, if you are reading this blog, please talk to your constructors, pay what you owe them for God's sake. You are losing the loyalty and trust of those capable puzzle makers by continuously keeping silent.

Not a hammer, but definitely a gavel for me today. Lots of troubles with lower right corner. Most of the time I find down clues to be easier than the across ones, but today is an exception. Can you still clue ITO (3D) as "OJ's judge" after his recent trial? How would you clue Judge Jackie Glass then?

Forgot to show you this huge Crossword Building earlier this week. It looks like an empty grid in the day time, but all the words become visible when the light is on in the evening. Tell me how different it is from our puzzle pattern other than that it has an additional gray shade.

Across:

1A: Armed robbery: STICKUP

8A: Spanish port: ALMERIA. Arabic for "The Mirror". Unknown to me. See here. It's a seaport in south Spain on the Mediterranean Sea.

17A: Astronomer of Alexandria: PTOLEMY. I surprised the hell out of me by getting his name with only letters PT_ _ _ _ Y filled in.

18A: Huge statues: COLOSSI. I only knew the adjective colossal. Can you give me an example of a COLOSSUS?

13D: Singer DeLange: ILSE. Have never heard ofthis Dutch country singer.She looks very pretty.23D: Elvis Costello hit: ALISON. I got it from the across fills. Not a familar song to me. Could not find a YouTube clip either.

26D: Moray catcher: EELER. Sniggler is "Moray catcher" too.

27D: Mediterranean evergreens: CAROBS. Oh, good to know. CAROB is always powder to me. Are those ripe pods edible also?

Martin, Razzberry & Sallie,The vowel sounds in "wear" and "where" are the same to me. But I do notice that "h" is somehow pronounced by those southerners, the same with their "when" and "why". Sallie's "feel a puff of air when saying where. Not so with wear" explains it very well.

Razzberry,What is yung2?

PromiseMe,How did you develop an interesting in playing flute and how long have you been playing?

Gave up on today's puzzle-didn't know the names (ILSE, LESLIE, McGUINN, RABI(why was there an abbrev. with this name?)) or the arcana (ALMERIA,BLOUSON,LARI). Also had STEN for BREN. Oh well! Hope you're all staying warm. I'm beginning to dream about the Caribbean-a lot!

cc have you read FACTORY Girls by Leslie T. Chang yet? I just started it and it is an intriguing story. Thought you might be interested if you hadn't seen it already.

Good morning, c.c. and gang - struggles abounded today; needed lots of g-spot help. I won't bore with the list of the ones I didn't know, but got especially stuck by continually thinking 31D was 'ghostly quality'. Nice having a bit of a hammer finally.

C.C., the lioness is the hunter of the family; the male usually just lays around and waits for the kill (food), then helps himself. I'm sure that's a familiar scenario to some on here...Also, you bail out (eject) from a failing airplane.

Words of Wisdom for today - "To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Well, this may have only been a gavel for C. C., but it was definitely a hammer for me. This bad puzzle spanked me so hard I won't be able to sit down for a week. And it started out so well, too! I mean, that NW corner was such a breeze...

There were three major thorny spots that I wasn't able to finish on my own. The first was the NE corner, which I should have been able to get except that I just didn't think of MALIBU. I didn't know ILSE, ALMERIA or RABI and was stuck with _ALI_U for 10D and just couldn't come up with it. Part of the problem was that I kept seeing ALGERIA in my mind when I looked at AL_ER_A for 8A. Even though I knew it wasn't ALGERIA, my brain kept putting the initial G into 10D and I just couldn't think of a beach that would fit GALI_U.

Next up was the SW corner. BLOUSON was another complete unknown, as were LARI and MCGUINN, and I just couldn't guess the letters where they intersected.

Finally, the SE corner killed me. I vaguely remembered the John Wayne movie, but couldn't remember whether it was HATORI, HATARI, HITARI or HITORI. And, although I know what BACILLI means, I simply couldn't retrieve it from my brain. Although it doesn't make any sense, I was thinking a rod-shaped bacteria might be something to do with botulism, and therefore the answer might be BOCILLI or BOCILII (hey -- I said it didn't make any sense). Oh -- and LCS got me once again. I remember it was in the puzzle once before and got me then as well, but it just isn't something that sticks in my brain. Maybe next time. Anyway, as a result of all this I ended up with HATORI, BOCILII and ICS.

Other unknowns that were gettable via the perps included BREN (I, too, wanted STEN), CELADON, PAYNE and ALISON. And my vote for ugly, made-up word of the month definitely goes to UNMOLD.

As for COLOSSI, the most famous was the original Colossus of Rhodes in ancient times. A modern example would be the Status of Liberty, which was nicknamed "The Modern Colossus."

Good morning all,This was definitely a hammer for me. The list of the unknowns was too long to mention. I started googling way to early for my likes.

We were also hit with a hammer yesterday--actually another car. My husband and I are fine, although a little stiff today, but the car is not doing as well. A young woman with a baby in the car pulled out of a driveway w/o looking. I was more concerned for the young mother and baby who appeared fine physically but emotionally not as well. I have never been in an accident my whole life; just thanking God it wasn't more serious. Just a reminder how quickly it could all be over. Later went grocery shopping in our second car and bought all kinds of comfort food. I'm not feeling guilty right now--needed it.

Take care and drive safely. We are staying put today as 3-6" of the white stuff is in the forecast.

Hammer my foot! More like a large post mall!!Wow, I got off to a great start and finished about 2/3rds pretty quickly and then slowed down. Way down!BLOUSON, Roger McGuinn (spelled it mcgWinn) BREN (I had STEN), ALMERIA (no clue; I knew it wasn't Algeria, but that was all) and 33a, MIS? don't understand that one.The STAR PART threw me till just a second ago. I just figured out, if you star then you are the lead actor/actress! Didn't have a thing to do with those things in the night sky.29d! I refused to enter NIGHTY cause it was too easy. I looked for something a lot harder but finally had to give in!-5 F this AM, but it's all the way up to +10 now. Regular heat wave!CY'All Later

Tom Pruce is always a hammer. I think he deliberately chooses obscure or little used words. I'm so glad he is not a frequent contributor. It's been so long since we've seen one of his puzzles, that I couldn't guess who'd made this monstrosity.

About the ByrdsFormed in the ’60’s they took the name, the Byrds, misspelled à la the Beatles & MonkeesMost famous member was David Crosby who later became part of Crosby, Stills, & Nash(and sometimes Young)Most well-known songs are four by Dylan:Mr. Tambourine ManMy Back Pages All I Really Want to DoChimes of FreedomIn fact they recorded so many Dylan songs they released an album of songs written by himAnd two by Pete SeegarTurn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) The Bells of RhymneyAnd finally two written by the bandSo You Want to Be a Rock & Roll StarEight Miles High

I too felt hammered today, but finally managed, after much erasing and guessing to get it all by g'spotting LARI, MCGUINN and CAROB. Hubby knew ALMERIA, or that corner would have meant a map search, and BACILII looked fine to me until I came here, knowing nothing about world series. The rest sort of fell into place after much mulling and cogitating.

c.c.,Bail does mean to eject, if you think that someone bailed out of jail is ejected, or let out, like those getting out of their debts in the bailout, or bailing water out of a sinking boat.

I'm back from the snow plowing and a trip to the grocery store. @CC it takes a while to plow the snow because I plow my drive and turn area which is fairly large. Then I plow four of my neighbor's drive ways. Pittsburgers are a crazy lot. As soon as it starts to snow they descend on the stores to get toilet paper. I don't know why but it is always an event with snow.

As for the puzzle, I wish I would have stayed out and plowed more snow. It would have been more fun. I like others had too many unknowns to list. The NW and SE corners went smoothly but the remainder was a a female dog. I had 8D and 26D and knew they were correct and that kept forcing my mind to think only of STEN for 40A.

Jeanne happy to hear nobody was injured in your accident.

Oh well better luck tomorrow. Drive safely and stay warm. It is snowing so hard here I need to plow again.

And, I really don't get 55d. The World Series games to decide a championship between two leagues. The LCS are games to decide who gets to play in the World Series.So, shouldn't the clue be "Series BEFORE the World"? or "Series BEFORE the Series" or at least something to indicate that it's not the LCS World Series?

Jeanne,I was going to say that I'm glad nobody was hurt. And you really do deserve all that comfort food. Have a few hot toddies too.

Dick,We always say toilet paper manufacturers benefit from all the assholes around here. Is that true of Pittsburgers too? Except you of course--very neighborly to plow for your neighbors. It's amazing though, how people do flock to the stores before a storm.

Well, definitely a hammer for me and I, too, googled very early. Didn't know PTOLEMY, but got it thru the perps. I also had sten instead of bren, but did change it. I wanted corset instead of blouson and so was trying to fit in another letter to get it, maybe a variation of the spelling??? Finally got it though. Anyways, googled too many to mention.

Good Morning All, First of all, Jeanne, glad to hear that you and your husband are OK, as well as the others involved. An accident sticks with you emotionally for a long time, even if you are physically alright.

It was a pretty rough puzzle this morning. But I do get a bigger kick out of solving one of the toughies, than one of the super easy one. There weren't any unknown names except for ILSE and RABI. But the perps came to the rescue on those.

For 31D I misread it to be "Ghostly quality" and my first idea was LURKINESS. I thought Tom Pruce may have been one of this blog's lurkers. :o)

It was interesting that, although the puzzle was themeless, words like PTOLEMY, COLOSSI, ETRUSCAN and OBELISK hinted at an "Ancient" theme. Hey Calef, even ALMERIA is ancient in the "been around for a long time" sense. (Sorry about that, C.C.)

Democrat in Red State, here’s your link for Alison, one of Costello's best songs.

Winfield, Loved the Byrds, Argyle, Thanks for the song!The Mamas and The Papas sang about their own start and mentioned McGuinn several times in Creeque Alley.

Jeannie,Re last night's evidantly--I too sometimes err through a typo, so I would not be disappointed, knowing you know better.

Regarding BLOUSON--does anyone know what it really is in English? The link c.c. gave is not tight at the waist at all, and I only know the French usage--a loose garment like a lab coat donned to protect the clothing under it.

Hi C.C. and gang,Claw, sledge or ball peen - this was a hammer for me. I will not bore anyone with all the unknowns either. I do like a difficult puzzle and they are more interesting than the puff balls we have had lately,but really!

I think blouson is incorrect for the clue, as it doesn't seem to be tight at the waist..corset or girdle would be.

Peculiar People Day hmmmm? Well, Eat,Drink and be Merry for tomorrow they may make it illegal!

Dick, It is so nice of you to plow your neighbors driveways..now go get them some toilet paper! That is a hoot!

Jeanne, I am so glad no one was injured in the car accident! You are correct, we are all only a second away from disaster!

HI c.c.,How about the "Colossal of Memnon". The 2 statues of Ramses, near the entrance to the Valley of the Queens, in Egypt.They are overwhelmingly stunning!!!Lucky me .....I saw them twice, in "06".winter and fall

I too gave up after completing 3/4 of the c/w. Even the few ah-has were fun.So here are the few things I do know about. Certainly the Colossus at Rhodes was a colossus, being 110 ft tall, and also the Statue of Liberty, but I also think the gold statue of Zeus at Olympia, 40 ft tall, would have been. Also, there were many huge statues of Ramses II built at various temples.His temple at Abu Simbel had 4 seated statues of his image, and had to be cut out of the limestone hillside and moved when the Aswan Dam was built.

Cleopatra's Needle has nothing to do with Cleopatra, except that, when it was moved from Alexandria to London, the ship was called "the Cleopatra". Speaking of RamsesII, this obelisk was inscribed by him to commemorate his military victories long after it was built. It also was not originally built in Alexandria, but later moved there and housed in a temple that had been built by Cleopatra.. so there were 2 connections to Cleopatra.

The puzzle was a bear.Regarding 48D, though (Bail out) clued with "eject" was easy for me, having been strapped into an ejection seat in a fast moving tactical aircraft for many flying hours. If you need to get out of the airplane in a hurry (bail out is still the term used casually, even though it comes from pre WW1 when pilots actually jumped over the wing) you pull the ejection seat handle/ring depending on the seat manufacturer and eject, or "bail out"

Good morning, everyone! Had some problems with this one, but I self-corrected and got everything (I think). Got the NW easily, worked down the W, then tried the NE and couldn't even get started. OK, so finish the SW, do the SE, then work upward. Had STEN for BREN, and the following unknowns: ALMERIA, RABI, GELD (I know, we just had it recently), BLOUSON, CELADON, ILSE, ALISON, CAROBS (had no idea they were evergreens), MC GUINN, and LARI (This is my brother Larry and my brother Larry?).

C.C., on the Serengeti, in the lion family, the female (LIONESS) is the hunter/provider for the family. That big old guy with the mane lives off her largess.

@clearayes I think your "this" illustrates BLOUSON correctly.

@jim Good to see you again. It's been a while.

@jeanne So glad there were no serious injuries. Enjoy your comfort food.

I had to google ILSE and MCGUINN, which gave me enough clues to solve the ton of words I didn’t know. Lots of wags that turned out to be lucky. I would have given up, but there were fun words to keep me going; NW corner was fairly easy and that was also encouraging. Loved KNEEDEEP, PTOLEMY, HOOCH, TWADDLE, HOBBIT.

I’m celebrating Peculiar People Day – my natural element.

Jeanne, thank God you’re all ok. I think you should get a full body massage, the sooner the better. Not only comforting, but very healing, to the psyche as well as the body.

Hi,In my youth "hootch" was whisky produced by rural individuals, mainly for their own use but also sold to city folk. It was not a brand and was illegal in most situations. I lived in Ohio/Illinois and the stuff I knew about came from Kentucky.Calef.

Hammer? Gave.? Certainly a --- buster! I had more trouble with the SW rather than the SE.

Is there any connection between the name of Almeria and Almerimar just down the coast?

C.C. The blue dots in the baccilli might be from left over Grams stain dyes which use both red and blue. Baccili are frequently gram negavitive (red( and cocci (blue)Also, carob is an alternative source for chocolate, very tasty.

C.C., I just started playing the flute a few years ago. I toyed with the idea for a time before I actually got my Pearl flute. Everyone says you really need to have a teacher for the flute, but I taught myself. I have been reading music since I was eight years old when I began taking guitar lessons. My teacher also sat me down and introduced me to the piano. In the ninth grade, I started playing the trumpet, which I played throughout high school. Thanks for asking.

The puzzle was a hammer for me, too. I didn't know LARI, McGUINN or BLOUSON. I guessed RARI and McGLINN and wound up with BROLSON. The rest I either knew or got from the fills. I, too, find the harder ones more of a pleasure.

Glad to hear that you guys are alright, Jeanne.

Dick, Talk about running to the store before a storm ... you ought to see it around here (Florida) when a hurricane is approaching. The supermarkets become madhouses.

Oh! One last thing before I seclude myself into the cedars for a while. I went out for breakfast this morning and the waitress asked me if I wanted a chicken omelet. I said, "What? You want me to devour two generations of fowl in one meal? Do you have a serial chicken killer back there in the kitchen? That's not breakfast - THAT'S A VENDETTA!!!"

Jeannie, glad to hear you're ok - be ready for 'second-day stiffness' - as we age a bit, the onset is delayed. Also, your accident is yet more proof for the 'carpe diem' school of thought, of which I am a proud member. You just never know what's around that corner.

Jim, great to see you back. What did you fly? One of the top items on my bucket list is to snag another backseat ride in a fighter - I was lucky enough to fly in an F-4 Phantom twice, back in the sixties.

Calef, you're right about 'hooch' I was a counselor at a YMCA camp in north Georgia my senior year, and the local moonshiners would favor us with a mason jar of hootch on occasion. I'm surprised I still have stomach lining...

Useless organ, have you considered Viagra?

g8rmomx2, good to see you back as well; hope you'll be a frequent contributor.

Crockett, from the Department of Redundancy Department, you're right about the lioness, lol.

Last one! Dennis; If you catch a ride in a jet fighter, call me. I'M THERE!!!

Finally, someone asked me to describe Nurse Ratchet. She's 6'2" tall, weighs about 190#, is 42D-30-40, has dyed red hair, yellow eyes (they might be light brown, but it's hard to tell in my drug induced state), looks like Arnold Swartzeneger's sister and can bench press a 1959 Buick. She hates men, dislikes women and abhors children. Her goal is to "Rid the planet of all 'pukies'", whatever that is. She administers a "hypo" the same way "Braveheart" administered a sword. She freely admitted that the only way she can reach sexual satisfaction is with a D-10 Catapiller Tractor. She scares the "bejesus" out of me. And worst of all, she refers to me as "Toy". I'm in SO much trouble!!

What are you complaining about, Buckeye. Rachet sounds like a mighty formidable woman...and stacked too! She is the dominatrix of many men's dreams! So get out your black mesh stockings (yes, yours, not hers), relax...but not too much... and enjoy!

Your comment on "hooch". It's a Prohibition word used by those whohad been there. My dad (1908-1984) often called liquor "hooch" in a laughing sort of way. Like the booze was illegal...well, not in the 1960's, but he still used the word.(Lived in Wisconsin most of his life though he served in South Pacific in WWII.)

Linda,I guess am a 'Cracker'. I was born and raised in Montana, but I have lived in Florida for a very long time now. I do not hate the Gators, but football is not my favorite sport (I can enjoy it, though.) My game is hockey. Maybe that is because Montana has as much in common with Alberta as it does with any other state. I see Dick is from Pittsburgh. Boy! The Panthers sure beat the p!$$ out of the Penguins last time, didn't they? How many power-plays has it been since Sid the Kid scored? I should talk. The Panthers haven't made the playoffs in .. oh, I don't want to think about it! So, I like hockey and I play the flute. I guess today I should celebrate myself as one of those Peculiar Persons.

I thought I would share something before I run off to the jazz concert. This is the piece I am currently working on. It is the second movement. I chose it because it is slower than the rest of the piece. Some say it is sad.

Charles,Sorry I forgot this earlier today, but welcome! I checked last night's posts this morning and meant to let you know I'm a fellow WI-ite from a little west of Madison. Good to have another Badger in the group.

C.C., Ah ... I forgot to mention that I have a friend from Lvov, the city with the Crossword Building. He is quite a character. He is a former member of the USSR Olympic Fencing team. Very cool building, thanks.

Okay, I am starting out just telling all you people I didn't even have a peep at the puzzle today. After reading your comments I am kind of glad I didn't as my week at work was way too cerebral. I spent most of my time today in an icehouse drinking toddies and dangling a line (whatever those guys put in those toddies is a guess). Whatever...I outfished them all!! Bonus...I didn't have to clean the fish. Okay, I did have to cook them though.

Dennis, in the great, white, north the men are generally all hunters bringing home the prey and us gals have to figure out how to make the shit taste good.

Re: made up word...thank you Kazie, I feel much better now that you acknowlegded it.

Linda, what a nice man you have and shared with us! Makes me smile :)

Clearayes, I was on the friggin' ice in an icehouse this morning from 8am till about 2pm. Give me a break!

Buckeye, do you have your mapquest all set to put you through MN on your way to MT? I'll put you through your paces. Nurse Rachet gave me your itinerary. I'll add a few different herbs to your remedies. ((whisper)) she'll never know.

Jeannie, My post at 12:57. All I meant was that if I had been posting at 1:30 in the morning I would have been sleeping in as late as possible the next morning. Sorry if if sounded like something critical. It wasn't meant that way.

You all made me feel better. I had a terrible time with the names. Clear Ayes I am so impressed that you new the names. I had to use the G spot to make progress. We had terrible snow for Christmas in Oregon. I am glad to see the rain, though I feel bad for those suffering from the flooding in Washington State. It seems like the season to get too much weather of every kind.

clearayes, no offense taken. I SHOULD have been sleeping in, but the damn phone and friends wouldn't let me be. In a way though, it was the perfect winter day in MN. No wind, temps in the upper teens, and totally sunny. It was a day meant to spend outside on the ice if in MN. I had a helluva week at work last week and I can promise you one thing. I am going to bed now and may not rouse myself until NOON.